Without Fail
by DarkAngelTorchic
Summary: Hannah is almost to Victory Road. Maybe one day she'll be the Champion, but she doesn't deserve it. [two-shot; HG-centric]
1. bend

"Are you Hannah?"

She winced as she froze two stairs up, Sterling stopping on the stair behind her. Leave it to Brad to blow her cover. Disbelief filled the eyes of the Team Rocket grunt she had duped as the red-haired trainer grabbed her arm and roughly dragged her back down the stairs. "Do you think you're strong now that you look like them? That's foolish! You shouldn't wear those things!" He pulled the red R off her black shirt.

Sterling growled at him, a warning to get his hands off of Hannah. Ice crystals appeared on the railing to the stairs and on the bottom step where Sterling stood, back arched and glaring. "Hey, baby, I'm okay," Hannah reassured him. She too was glaring at Brad as she jerked away from him. Her upper arm was sore and there were red finger marks where her rival had grabbed her; certainly, they would bruise later.

The angry grunt challenged her to a battle, teeth clenched and face red. If only he knew before that her fooling him wasn't nearly as embarrassing as the battle that ensued. A tall, willowy teenager with dirty blonde hair stood behind an intensely focused glaceon blowing harsh wintery gusts of air at a raticate who didn't know what hit him before he fell.

* * *

Part of her is concerned that her ratty shoelaces are going to get caught in the spokes of her bicycle. The other part of her thinks the sound of the shoelaces billowing in the wind behind her as she pedals is kind of relaxing. She could use some relaxing. She doesn't bother to tie her shoes before she begins pedaling away.

She almost passes the guy with the spiky black hair, but he calls to her before she can pass him. Hannah brakes, and sits there staring at the way his mouth moves as he says something cliché about how battling strong trainers makes you stronger.

"That's only true if you win," she corrects him. Normally there would be a mischievous sparkle in her eyes accompanying that comment but today is not normal, so instead, her hazel eyes are _dull dull dull_, dark circles standing out on her pale, oily skin, flakes of yesterday's mascara sitting under her lash line.

The guy with the spiky black hair smirks. "Well then I would understand if you didn't want to battle me, because you know, you probably wouldn't."

A faint smile appears on Hannah's face as he releases a kingler, enthusiastic and ready to go. Hannah's fingers run briefly over Mindy's ball, but she quickly grabs Nina's instead.

It wasn't Mindy's fault.

That doesn't mean she's not to blame, though.

When Hannah does in fact win, she collects her prize money with a polite thank you and gives her number to Gavin, who claims that he _wants to battle again after I heal my pokemon!_

He calls about forty-five minutes later. That night, she fucks him in her tent.

* * *

"Sydney _pleeeeeeeeease?!"_ she begged.

"Hannah, you're so lucky you got an eevee," her cousin said. "Now why can't you just evolve it with like, a stone or something? Or what about an espeon? You don't even need a stone for that!"

"I don't _want_ an espeon," the younger blonde said stubbornly. "Violet is part-psychic, and I don't need another one. I don't want an umbreon either." Before Sydney has the chance to suggest that. "I want something no one around here has. I highly doubt anyone in Johto has a glaceon. Please, Syd?"

"How do you know I'll give him back?" she asked teasingly. "Maybe I want a glaceon for myself."

"You'll trade him back." Hannah's face was serious. "Besides, when Sterling gets a bit older, I'll breed him for another eevee and I'll give it to you."

"Okay," Sydney relented. "Send him over to me and I'll take a hike down to the icy rock."

"Sydney, you're the _best_!" Hannah squealed.

"I'll send you Shoshanna in the meantime. She can heal your pokemon for you. Be good!"

A twinge of sadness passed through Hannah as the eevee disappeared through the system, on his way to Snowpoint City where Sydney was waiting for him. She already missed him.

* * *

"Isn't it nice to find somewhere to rest when you need it?" she chirps. Even though she wants to, Hannah doesn't tell this girl that she's annoying. How can she, when this total random is offering to heal her pokemon for free? They need it; it's been five days since she left the Pokemon Center in Cherrygrove.

The girl goes to grab Mindy's pokéball and Hannah jerks away. "I haven't battled with her, she doesn't need to be healed," she says icily.

The stranger is momentarily stunned at Hannah's sudden coldness. "Oh, okay," she says, and though she's puzzled, she asks no questions.

Drake didn't need to be healed either. The only boy on her team, the youngest by far, definitely not ready to go out against pokemon owned by Pokemon League wannabes. Even though he had been significantly smaller than any of her trained pokemon, Hannah hadn't been able to stop herself from catching him after the chance encounter in the Dragon's Den. She had figured that eventually she'd trade him to Sydney for something. She hadn't ever imagined he would find a place on her team. Hannah didn't stop the girl from giving him a bit of medicine, smiling as she patted his smooth body.

"Thanks," she says gruffly as she grabs the dratini's pokéball from the girl.

"Just come back and see me if you need to heal up again!" She's still cheerful, trying to pretend like Hannah hadn't been weird.

She pretends like she doesn't hear the girl as she heads out the front door. The sun is starting to set; Hannah wants to make it to Victory Road before nightfall. She passes Gavin again and purposely doesn't make eye contact with him. She raises her eyebrows at a female trainer who is going on and on about a red-haired trainer that she battled and how she felt sorry for his pokemon.

"Can we just battle?" Hannah cuts her off mid-sentence. The gate to Victory Road is _right there _and Hannah could be inside, flashing her badge case, if it weren't for the girl's incessant rambling. The girl's shock at Hannah's lack of social etiquette is written all over her face as she grabs for a pokéball, but she doesn't say anything. A rapidash is released, stomping its hooves on the ground proudly.

Hannah isn't paying attention and grabs the wrong pokéball. Within seconds, a shadowy pokemon materializes in front of her, grinning broadly at her. Mindy can sense Hannah's panic at the sight of her. Hannah calls her back into her pokéball and grabs her wallet and tosses some money at her opponent. She doesn't count how much, but she knows it was probably an obscenely high amount. She doesn't care though. It's time to leave.

_Are you Hannah?_

* * *

Hannah couldn't help but smile proudly as the radio director claimed that her "courageous actions have saved pokemon nationwide!" She didn't think she was being brave as she systematically tore through the throngs of Team Rocket grunts. With each one she battled, she focused on how much experience her pokemon were gaining through the battles, experience that she sorely needed before fighting Clair. Despite the many advantages she had over ice-types, Pryce had been harder than she had expected and her victory could have just as easily been a loss. Certainly the final gym leader would be even harder. In a way, Team Rocket was actually just an extremely convenient training regimen for her pokemon. It wasn't like they were ever actually a threat.

She did kind of expect something nice for her efforts. Certainly running Johto's communications tower had to mean that the man had serious money. Instead he handed her a feather – a pretty feather, but still a fucking feather – and told her that she could climb the Bell Tower in Ecruteak with it. She's about to tell him that she doesn't _want_ to climb the damn tower before he remembers that something else is needed to make the legendary pokemon appear.

Hannah shrugged and thanked him anyway. She made a mental note to stop by the Ecruteak Gym and give it to Morty. If she remembered correctly, that's his dream. It's never been hers.

* * *

**Author's Note (7/26/2014): **As I've been waiting for my TCatG chapters to get back from my beta, I've been playing HeartGold all over again and for some reason, it inspired me to start a one-shot (that I decided to cut into two or maybe three parts).

This is more like a side thing while I wait to update TCatG so I'm not going to keep this going with weekly updates or whatnot. I'll post the rest later this week. Thanks for reading! :) Constructive criticism and comments are always much appreciated!


	2. break

She's so close, _so damn close_.

Everyone made it seem like Victory Road would be excruciating. It wasn't. There wasn't a single pokemon that Violet couldn't douse and send crawling back under a rock. Even the rhydon scurried into the shadows after a well-aimed waterfall attack. If this was an indicator of how the Pokemon League was going to go, Hannah wasn't worried.

Not like she was worried anyways.

She instead used the opportunity to train Drake. Though the wild donphan didn't take it easy on him and Hannah had to use up a large portion of her stash of healing supplies, it was worth it to see him evolve into a sleek dragonair. At least now he could hold his own.

Now she was out of hyper potions and speedwalking towards the exit, the light at the end of the tunnel, and she hears that fucking voice, so grating. "Hold up… Are you going to challenge the Pokemon League?"

_Asshole._

* * *

Hannah isn't sure why she chooses to go back to the Dragon's Den. Despite the frenetic energy of the trainers there, it's still somehow calming to her. She watches the whirlpool suck in a magikarp who flops against the current frantically before being spit out on the other side.

She never thought she'd be able to sympathize with a damn magikarp.

All but one of her pokemon are back at the Center. Violet would have been back with the rest if she hadn't needed the slowbro to use surf to get her back into the Dragon's Den. Of course, she could have swam from the back of Clair's gym, but Hannah's muscles felt heavy. She would have sank to the bottom for the magikarp to feed on.

_Not like that sounded like a particularly bad thing right now._

"Hannah?" a cautious voice rang out behind her. Even though her head felt like a million pounds, she slowly turned it to look back. Clair stood her, cape billowing in a soft breeze. "I heard what happened."

Hannah didn't say anything.

"I've, uh, never lost a pokemon before, but I'm sure you must be in a lot of pain right now," the gym leader stumbled.

"Please stop talking," the blonde said curtly.

"Right." Clair's earlier bravado seemed to have dissipated in light of a situation she couldn't fully comprehend. "I thought you might be here. It's really peaceful here by the water."

"I want you to leave."

* * *

"I haven't given up on becoming the greatest trainer," he says. Hannah almost wanted to laugh. Almost, but she didn't have it in her after seeing his last pokemon. She almost wanted to call it quits rather than see the haunter's smirk. "You seem… different."

Hannah wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. He wasn't good with sympathy anyways.

He let her leave.

* * *

The first trainer is a psychic and as hard as she's trying to get by without using Mindy, she can't.

She tries to ignore the panic welling up inside her as the gengar looks at her hesitantly, but she can't stop shaking. "Just, uh, use shadow ball."

Mindy isn't quick enough. The xatu is quick and it's been a long time since she's been out of her pokéball.

Will tells her as she recalls Mindy that she should try trusting her pokemon more.

He shouldn't be giving advice with that haircut anyways.

* * *

The rain on Route 45 is bad.

The downpour is weighing on Hannah's tent and she's realizing that it might be enough to bring down the cheap thing once and for all. Trying to set up camp was a horrible idea. She needs to keep going, even if it's getting late and the storm is nasty.

She lets just a couple pokemon out- Mindy's eyes are well suited for the dark, so she's the one guiding them forward. Hannah tells her that Dark Cave is ahead. Maybe they can find a little cranny to hide out in until the storm has passed. Violet is helping her. Besides, she likes the water.

Sterling shouldn't have been out, but Hannah was nervous with the rain and he nuzzled her leg and tried to make her feel better.

She didn't see the rock falling towards them. A quick bit of communication passes between Mindy and Violet and the slowbro shoots a jet of water to force Hannah out of its path.

It's too late for Sterling.

* * *

An old man sits outside of the Pokemon Center in the Indigo Plateau with an abra. "You know, back in the day my abra used to teleport trainers who weren't ready back home."

"That's great," Hannah says dryly.

"Now all of the trainers can fly with their pokemon and they don't need me anymore."

"Well, at least you have your pokemon," Hannah says, casting him a glare. She gets up from the bench she's sitting on and looks at her ringing PokeGear.

Gavin is calling. Such a loser.

"Are you going to battle the Pokemon League?" the old man asks her.

Hannah thinks about this for a minute. It has always been her dream to be a trainer, to be the best trainer. Her father taught her to treat everything that happened to her as an opportunity to better herself, to never give up. "By doing this," he explained as his slakoth and her eevee played together in the background. "You can never fail."

He would be so disappointed.

"No."

* * *

The next time she visits the Dragon's Den, she has company. He's back from Kanto, and he tells her about the sights – the clefairy that danced on Mount Moon, the Viridian Forest, the Vermillion seaport. "I thought that was your next step," he says. "After the Pokemon League."

"I didn't go." She is careful not to meet his eyes.

"But I battled you in Victory Road." Confused, he pushes his long red hair away from his face to try and get a better look at her, but she isn't budging.

"I lost." Her tone is icy.

"Hey, listen-"

"No you listen," Hannah interrupts. "You're lucky I never turned you in to the cops. You're lucky I didn't let my pokemon attack you after you outed me at the Radio Tower to Team Rocket. You've done nothing but step in my shadow this whole time. You don't have the right to try and tell me anything. You're nothing but a fucking thief and a second-rate trainer."

"Clair told me about what happened." He didn't let it show that he had heard anything she said.

"Go fuck yourself. We're not friends, so stop acting like it."

"I can't imagine how you're feeling."

"No, you can't," she snapped.

"Which pokemon was it?"

Hannah pretends that she doesn't hear him and looks straight ahead into the whirlpool.

"I'm pretty sure it wasn't that slowbro of yours, since you know, I just saw you ride up here with it," he says and he's talking to himself more than Hannah. "I remember you using that typhlosion during our battle in Victory Road, so that's out. How about-"

"Sterling," she says quietly. "He was my first pokemon. My dad got him from an old friend and gave him to me. He didn't want me to evolve Sterling. My dad, he trains normal-types. I think he wanted me to as well. My dad's also an asshole, so of course I didn't want to listen to him. I wanted a glaceon – something nobody else here would have." A tear slides down her oily cheek, the first since the accident. "He was my baby. I loved all my pokemon, but he was my favorite. You're not supposed to play favorites, but he was mine. And they saved me and let the rock crush him."

"Hannah." This is the first time he's ever used her name. He usually calls her Brat, Trainer or something else derogatory. "That's not your fault. It's not your pokemon's fault either."

"They saw it coming. They saved me. They should've saved him. I would've been hurt, but I would've been okay. He was little. He was fragile. He didn't stand a chance."

"You don't know that."

"You don't know anything, so shut up."

It was quiet for a few minutes. "So what's next?"

"I'm going home tomorrow."

"Where's home?"

"It used to be Goldenrod, but uh, my family just moved to Hoenn."

"Do they know?"

"No. They won't, either. My father would be horrified that he raised a quitter."

"You didn't quit, you…" His voice trailed off. There really wasn't an argument to be made.

* * *

Gavin calls again as she approaches the Olivine Harbor.

This time, she throws her Pokegear in.

There's really nobody she wants to talk to anyways.

* * *

**Author's Note (2/01/15): **In case you are still wondering, Hannah's team consisted of: Sterling (Glaceon), Violet (Slowbro), Mindy (Gengar), Annie (Typhlosion), Nina (Ampharos) and Lyla (Pidgeot). Sterling was the only male on the team until the accident, in which he was replaced by Drake (Dratini), also male.

Thanks as always for reading!

~DAT


End file.
